What You Need To Know About iXBRL
What is it about?
The legislation, which came into force on 1 January 2010, means that it is compulsory for companies to send their Company Tax Return online using iXBRL for accounts and computations
Effective on or before 1 April 2011 for any accounting period ending after 31 March 2010, UK company tax returns must be filed online to HMRC in Extensible Markup Language (XML) with the accompanying statutory accounts and tax computations in the inline variant of the eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) format known as inline XBRL (iXBRL).
What is the general impact on all UK companies?
Companies will need to ensure their internal process and systems that support tax return and statutory accounts preparation will enable them to meet the HMRC requirement.
The introduction of iXBRL may affect processes in some companies, including those who currently assemble data in text-based software such as Word or Excel and then send these in text files, such as PDF, to Companies House and HMRC. They will need to either use appropriate iXBRL “conversion” software or to change their processes so that a third party handles the very labour intensive tagging process for them.
WHAT IS THE GENERAL IMPACT ON YOUR ORGANISATION?
For Accountancy Practices, Listed Corporations (Single Entity/Multiple Entities/Groups), Mutual Funds, Further/Higher Education, Public Sector, and Design Agencies
Set up one or more companies or filing entities for which you want iXBRL documents to be prepared. You can add more companies or filing entities later.
Upload your source files (in whatever format you prepare them—we accept most formats) and download your converted documents. For the HMRC and Companies House, we convert into the following file types:
- Corporate Tax Return form (Form CT600) into XML
- Corporation tax computation into iXBRL
- Legal entity (statutory) accounts (UK GAAP or IFRS) into iXBRL
For Charities
Type of company / organisation accounts prepared in accordance with:
| Charities Act 2006 (Receipts and payments basis) – Charities SORP | PDF or iXBRL (minimum tagging list* including charities extension) |
| Charity – incoming resources over £100k (unincorporated) | Charities Act 2006 (accruals basis) – Charities SORp | PDF or iXBRL (minimum tagging list* including charities extension) |
JOINT STATEMENT FROM HMRC AND COMPANIES HOUSE
HMRC introduced their iXBRL service in November 2009. Companies House added their iXBRL software filing for unaudited full accounts to their service last summer of 2010 and then continued to develop their iXBRL capability for all the main accounts types they receive by summer of 2011.
HMRC GUIDANCE
For Listed Corporations (Single Entity, Multiple Entities, and Groups), Mutual Funds, Further/Higher Education, and Public Sector
From 1 April 2011, for accounting periods ending on or after 1 April 2010, Company Tax Returns must be filed online. A Company Tax Return comprises the CT600 form—including any supplementary pages—accounts and computations, together with any other supporting documentation. In all cases where a Company Tax Return is filed online, the computations must be in iXBRL format.
For most companies and organisations, accounts forming part of the return must also be in iXBRL format, but there are exceptions. Where accounts are not filed in iXBRL format, they must be filed as a PDF attachment.
HMRC Guidance for Charities
Type of company / organisation accounts prepared in accordance with:
| Charities Act 2006 (Receipts and payments basis) – Charities SORP | PDF or iXBRL (minimum tagging list* including charities extension) |
| Charity – incoming resources over £100k (unincorporated) | Charities Act 2006 (accruals basis) – Charities SORp | PDF or iXBRL (minimum tagging list* including charities extension) |